The chapel was buried in white flowers. There are funeral wreaths along the walls. Withered roses and lilies are scattered on the floor. And like a mirage against the background of the wall, a pedestal made of black polished wood. And on it is a skeleton in a white wedding dress, decorated with gold - dozens of chains, rings, bracelets, watches on bony hands... A skull with empty eye sockets... A scythe in a hand devoid of flesh. At the first moment, seeing this strange figure, police captain Ekaterina Petrovskaya thought: this is some kind of trick, a performance... But then wild anxiety squeezed her heart. My head was spinning from the stuffiness, from the smell of dead flowers, from hot wax. In order not to fall, she grabbed the hand of investigator Strashilin. Where did such a seemingly simple case of the murder of pensioner Ilya Ufimtsev lead them?.. What happened in the house of old man Ufimtsev, a former party functionary, who in his declining years read the Bible and communicated with the nuns of a nearby monastery?.. August 2, 1982Our days